BONG HITS 4 JOHN ROBERTS

Here I discuss all things I find pertinent to the living of life. It can include topics based on politics (eek), religion (yike), health (flee), and other subjects. The end result (someday, I hope) is a clearer map of what people should (well, could) do to live better lives. Many of my posts are touched with my own brand of wierd humor, so bear with me... psychopaths can't all be wrong!

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Quote: "Dave Goodson, a motorist with an engineering background, performed a number of measurements and calculations after receiving a ticket at Union City Boulevard and Lowry Road. His case forced Union City's traffic engineers to concede that they had set the yellow signal time 1.3 seconds too short. The timings weren't faulty, they were illegal."

With that having been said (it's at the very end of the article), I hereby present for your consideration, PhotoBlocker Spray. It supposedly makes it very difficult for speed and red-light cameras to take a picture of your license plate. I don't generally condone anything that encourages someone to break the law; but what's good for the goose, as they say. If city governments are so corrupt as to do things like shorten the yellow-light cycle timing for the sake of garnering your dollars, then we as citizens have the right to stimy these attempts.

Quote: "Dave Goodson, a motorist with an engineering background, performed a number of measurements and calculations after receiving a ticket at Union City Boulevard and Lowry Road. His case forced Union City's traffic engineers to concede that they had set the yellow signal time 1.3 seconds too short. The timings weren't faulty, they were illegal."

With that having been said (it's at the very end of the article), I hereby present for your consideration, PhotoBlocker Spray. It supposedly makes it very difficult for speed and red-light cameras to take a picture of your license plate. I don't generally condone anything that encourages someone to break the law; but what's good for the goose, as they say. If city governments are so corrupt as to do things like shorten the yellow-light cycle timing for the sake of garnering your dollars, then we as citizens have the right to stimy these attempts.

It's almost winter, so I cannot think of a more appropriate time to talk about freezing your credit. It essentially tells the three major credit bureaus that NOBODY has access to your credit information without your consent.

Monday, June 25, 2007

If this were a debate on whether "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" was puerile or not, I would've supported the Supreme Court. The banner was silly at best. However, that's not the issue on the table here. The issue on the table is a person's freedom of speech.

Of course, if you want to be literal about it, the First Amendment says that Congress, not the Supreme Court, shall make NO law abridging a person's right to free speech. However, the Supreme Court, I guess, has free reign to restrict you as much as possible.

But now there's precedent for any asshat teacher or principal who, if they don't agree with a student's political views, can simply say, "Well, he's only saying something with no merit, because..." And then they can just fill in the blank with any rationale they can to suppress a teenager's freedom of expression because, well, they're not 18, so they must not know any better.

Oh, the magic number 18. Except there are plenty of fuckwads running around this country right now with less of a clue than a rock, and they're over 18.

It's a slippery slope we're on, now that there's precedent. I don't care if I agree or disagree with the message, or even if the message appears to me to be juvenile. It's not our job to allow or disallow what we agree with (or not)--that's called CENSORSHIP, and it's used with great relish in places like Iran.

I served in the armed forces to protect everyone's rights, as (supposedly) guaranteed in the Constitution of the United States, and this ruling makes me sick. I'm sure Thomas Jefferson is rolling over in his grave right now.

Friday, June 08, 2007

THIS IS THE SONG THAT WOULD NOT DIE

Don't get me wrong. I like the song "Xanadu." Srsly. It's also a catchy name. And, it's used in one of the finer works of 19th century poetry. And...AND...I used it in the title of my book.

But come on people!!

Apparently, "The Olivia Project" just released this very year a CD with something like 6 different remixes of Xanadu.

Yes. In 2007. Many of you may remember this post ages ago where I counted the number of songs named--in whole or in part--"Xanadu," and the number of remakes of said 1980's song. I think the count stood at 18. Now, I see we have 6 more versions (actually, 5...their "Millenium Mix" is one I have already heard, so I'm thinking this album is a re-release of older mixes, with some new ones thrown in).

Oh, and did I forget to mention the 1994 Muzak(tm) trumpet version of "Xanadu?" It's ...it's... I don't know what it is. It sounds like Herb Alpert-style music. But it's Xanadu, ffs!

This is only the beginning. If you have Napster, you can do a track search for "Xanadu." There are some in there I've already listed. There are the new ones, done by the Olivia Project. And there are even more here.

I'm telling you, people! It's the song that just won't die! And, it's a crying shame the vast majority of these remixes SUCK!

Thursday, May 31, 2007

wow... after reading the slashdot thread on this, I found the link where people found posts by the WFI group responsible for this mess. It basically comes down to them being dominionist "xian warriors". This explains a lot unfortunately.

The most disturbing quote form them, though, is this:

Every single one of you [LJ users that were banned] are indeed pedophiles. Nasty, filthy, stinking pedophiles. You all preface your statements with "I'm not a pedophile myself BUT"

I would think with that a direct accusation like that in a public forum would be a fairly open-and-shut libel case...

/that's using logic in law, though, which is obviously a stupid thing to do

Emphasis mine.

Can you imagine the shitstorm that would ensue if groups such as abuse survivor groups (among those deleted and, apparently, lumped into the above statement from Warriors for Innocence) all got together and filed a class-action lawsuit against WFI for such a libelous statement? Oh, YES! It would be a victory for freedom of thought everywhere, and a resounding defeat for draconian so-called "Christians" still stuck in the 14th century.

I'm going to look up the list of these groups, see if I can contact any of them, and RAISE ALL HOLY HELL!!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

...how many of these self-improvement sites are really nothing more than a regurgitation of what other sites have said. I'm not saying that there isn't truth in what they say (because many times there is), but I can't help but wonder how much is borrowed from others; and that becomes their way to 'success.' Not everyone's way...just some of these sites.

I present to you, for your consideration, this site and this site. Tell me if there aren't any immediate similarities. Now, these are only two sites; not the bulk of them. But it was enough to make me take notice.

Which leads me to my next question: how many of these self-improvement sites bogus? How many of these sites are just shameful copies (or near-copies) of others' work, and you're coughing up $97 $47 for each site?

I know very few people ever read this blog, but I figured I'd throw it out there in the off chance someone has had experience with this. The 12-week life transformation site has free stuff (so does the life purpose site), just so people know--I guess--they're not just out for your money.

Friday, May 11, 2007

The Bank of America wants your money. Really.

This is the story (stories, actually) as told to me. The people I've heard these from have more details, and my time is short; so I have to do this quickly.

Story Number One: A friend of our family is a probate paralegal. She is working with some people in Seattle to get a CD out of Bank of America (the person who died, lived in and died in Maine, so State of Maine laws apply here). However, even after 14 years after the death of the decedent, the SOLE LIVING HEIR cannot get the money from the CD. Bank of America has pulled a series of stall tactics, wanting: (1) to refer back to their legal department, (2) have the probate paralegal all but commit perjury (as she explained it) by signing some kind of affidavit, (3) simply just not respond AT ALL to letters of inquiry from the paralegal (and other lawyers and I understand it), and (4) telling the paralegal that she must get a court order to get Bank of America to release the funds from the CD which should have been released to the heir 14 years ago.

What the hell is that all about?

Story (Stories) number 2 can be found on MSNBC.com. I'll link in the story later. You can probably find it a few days earlier as a post on this blog. It was about identity theft. Which leads us to ...

Story number 3. My father, through a debt management company, paid off a debt to MBNA, just after MBNA was bought out by Bank of America. MBNA, while in their transition phase, acknowledged the debt was taken care of under special circumstances (reduced intererest rate, forgiven past due penalties, etc). However, Bank of America decided to completely ignore this prior agreement (the agreement was made BEFORE BoA bought MBNA, and was completed just after the buyout), and has continued to hassle my father ever since.

I suggest that, based off of these stories, and the 1300+ comments (may be more now) from that MSNBC.com article, that anyone with a BoA account should really consider another bank, before they get screwed.

Allegedly. You know. Standard disclaimer to hopefully avoid getting sued for 'libel' or some other bull. Considering some of the tactics BoA has pulled so far on their so-called 'valued' customers, it wouldn't surprise me if they fought dirty if someone called them out on it.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Over twelve hundred (!!!) in just a day, leaving comments here stating how they've gone through similar instances.

But nobody's doing anything about it.

My father loses almost a hundred grand because of someone he thought he could trust. It makes it even worse than it being a complete stranger.

I left a comment on this article, as well. It's #17. And it has my father's blog listed in there.

Perhaps the time has come for vigilante justice. If the law enforcement agencies aren't going to do anything about it, maybe it's time to put the fear of Joe Public into the hearts and minds of these nefarious thugs.